➡️ U.S. ACTION ALERT: Long COVID Research Moonshot Act

We need four minutes of your time to contact your Representative and Senators to ask them to co-sponsor these bills - $1 billion/year is at stake!

The Tonic is a lighthearted, heavily resourced newsletter for folks interested in learning about long COVID, ME/CFS, and other health conditions. Come for the info; stay for the whimsy. Or vice versa.

Your help is desperately needed

If you live in the U.S. and are a long hauler or someone living with ME/CFS, or you know someone who is, or you simply want to show your love for The Tonic, please keep reading.

Worldwide, it is estimated that Long COVID is affecting a whopping 400 million lives. In the U.S. alone, over 18 million adults and nearly 6 million children are impacted, and those are thought to be conservative estimates. These illnesses are known to cause a higher disease burden and lower quality of life than cancer. We need to know what is causing these diseases and we need effective treatments, and that takes immediate and extensive resources.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Long COVID Research Moonshot Act in the Senate recently and now Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has introduced its partner bill in the House of Representatives.

➡️ This means that now is the time to call your senators and representative to urge them to vote for these bills.

Spend FOUR minutes making three phone calls!

Click on this button below to access a very user-friendly site that provides you with all the phone numbers you need as well as a simple script for what to say. There are script tabs for patients, allies, and pediatric LC.

I just called and spoke with two aides and left one voicemail. This took me just under FOUR MINUTES. Please help by calling your senators and representative now!

Here’s more info from #MEAction:

The Long COVID Research Moonshot Act (S.4964) (H.R.9907) would provide $1 billion/year to the NIH for a new Long COVID research program, coordinated by a Director and Advisory Board. In addition to research funding, these bills would:

• Require the NIH to develop a public Long COVID research plan

• Require the NIH to develop a grant process that accelerates clinical trials for Long COVID

• Require any new treatments developed by the NIH to be reasonably priced

• Create an electronic form for patients to identify potential treatments of Long COVID

• Require federal entities to provide education to providers and the public about the ongoing risks of Long COVID, as well as how to identify and address it. 

• Provide funding for state, local, and tribal health departments to respond to Long COVID

• Fund multidisciplinary Long COVID clinics 

• Develop best practices for clinical care delivery and integration of clinical care and services

The text of these bills also explicitly mentions that funding will also be used to conduct comparative research to understand the similarities and differences between Long COVID and other infection-associated chronic conditions with similar phenotypes, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and persistent Lyme disease, as well as mentions how activities funded by the Program could improve understanding of such other conditions. The funds will also be used to conduct comparative research between Long COVID and severe, long-term effects from COVID–19 vaccinations.

Thank you all.

In sickness and in health,

✌🏻 Amy